Truncatable bilge block arrangement



July 1, 1969 P. J. JOOSTEN 4 TRUNCATAB'LE BILGE BLOCK ARRANGEMENT Slieet FiledMax ch 27. 1968 FIG.

INVENTOR PETER J. JOOSTEN AGENT BY 4M4 %RNEY July 1, 1969 P. .1. JCJOS'I 'EN 3,452,547

' TRUNCATABLE BILGE BLOCK ARRANGEMENT Filed March 27. 1968 Sheet 3 of 3' 50 f INVENTOR PE TER J. .lo'osrElv United States Patent 3,452,547 TRUNCATABLE BILGE BLOCK ARRANGEMENT Peter J. Joosten, 4939 25th St. S., Arlington, Va. 22206 Filed Mar. 27, 1968, Ser. No. 716,655 Int. Cl. B63c 1/00 US. Cl. 6166 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a bilge block for supporting a ship in a dry dock. The bilge block is truncatable so as to provide clearance between the bilge block and the entering ship. The bilge block is truncated by a power assembly actuating a lever assembly to circularly raise and lower the upper block assembly.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

Background 09 the invention.

The problem of interference between bilge blocks and the hull of the ship to be docked is not new and solutions have been in existence for a long time. Until the midfifties the problem was not very great in this country because new construction of large dry docks during national crises had been suflicient so as to meet the demands of peacetime trends for larger ship sizes. However, since that time a stepped-up requirement for greater tonnage, the advent of deep draft submarines and the need to equip combatant ships with large sonar domes, has created an ever increasing need for effectively deeper dry docks.

For deep draft submarines, the depth requirement for docking is complicated by the fact that keelblocks, fore and aft, must be built higher than midship keelblocks. This is to support the tapering fore and aft sections. A submarine must then be brought in off-center of the dry dock and her keel must clear the bilge blocks. The submarine is then laterally moved into place over the varying height keelblocks.

For ships that are equipped with sonar domes, the matter is still more complicated; first, because most sonar domes make high blocking necessary (8-12 ft. above dry dock floor) and also because, in most cases, the combination of one or more domes with rudders, propellers, or both, each extending below the keel line, make it necessary that the ship be brought in off-center of the dry dock. Here, too, the keel and sometimes even the propellers and rudder must clear the bilge blocks. The result is that even many of the larger docks lack several feet in depth and cannot be used for these ships.

The temporary removal of the bilge blocks is one means to increase the effective depth of the dock. For instance, with a hauling block arrangement, completely assembled bilge blocks are laterally moved over tracks to the sides of the dry dock. The use of such arrangements is not widespread because of the numerous disadvantages. For example, such a system is found to be unreliable because of clogging of the tracks by debris and thus obstructs the movement of the bilge blocks. Also, in the case of highblocking, the movable bilge blocks are found cumbersome to move. Furthermore, many existing docks are trough-shaped and the dock floor is not wide enough to permit adequate travel space athwart.

Another solution is to super flood the dry dock.

In this solution, the dry dock entrance is provided with an outside seal for the caisson that will make it possible to hold an inboard water level that is higher than the 3,452,547 Patented July 1, 1969 outboard water level. Pumps are provided to raise the inside water level so that a ship in the dry dock can be sufficiently lifted to clear the regular bilge blocks. This solution requires considerable and costly modifications and in many cases such modifications would put the dry dock out of commission for some time. Furthermore, this solution only applies if the dry dock is wide enough so that hulls may be entered to the side of the bilge blocks wherein the dry dock is then superflooded and the ship is moved laterally over the bilge blocks. Since the height of the bilge blocks is about 5 ft. higher than the keelblocks, many existing docks would retain their usefulness if the extra height of the bilge blocks could be temporarily removed.

Summary of the invention The present invention relates to a truncatable bilge block wherein the upper block is vertically movable relative to the lower block to temporarily decrease the height of the bilge block and thereby increase the effective depth of the dry dock.

It is an object of this invention to provide a vertically adjustable bilge block to retain the usefulness of many existing dry docks.

It is another object of the invention to provide a truncatable bilge block for increasing the clearance between the bilge block and the entering ship.

A further object of the invention is to provide a reliable, uncomplicated and economical means for temporarily decreasing the height of the bilge block.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the unique bilge blocks installed within a dry dock;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the truncated bilge block of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view of the bilge block of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view of the lower block assembly of FIG. 3.

Detailed description Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is indicated by the reference numeral 10, a truncatable bilge block embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention. The primary function of the bilge block is to provide off-center support to a ship in a dry dock, whereas the keelblock provides the support for the keel of the ship. A ship 12 is shown as having a projection 14, which may be a sonar dome. FIG. 1 thus shows three truncatable bilge blocks in their lower position (to provide clearance relative to the sonar dome 14) and a fourth bilge block in its upright supporting position.

The truncatable bilge block 10, as shown in FIG. 2, comprises an upper block assembly 20, a lever assembly 30, a power assembly 60 (FIG. 4), and a lower block assembly 50. As will become readily apparent, the power assembly 60 (FIG. 4) provides the power means to actuate the lever assembly 30 to thereby lift-off and swingdown the upper block assembly in a transverse circular motion to a position beside the lower block assembly '50. The upper block assembly 20 is illustrated, in phantom (FIG. 2), in its lowered position beside the lower block assembly 50.

The lower block assembly 50, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, comprises a generally rectangular lower block 51, which may be constructed of a dense material such as concrete, has a lower supporting surface 54, a cavity 52 (see FIG. 4) and an upper supporting surface 53. Although the lower block 51 could be constructed in any number of sizes, the block 51 is illustrated with a height of 6 ft. and other dimensions in suitable proportions.

The upper block assembly 20 comprises a generally rectangular upper support block 22, which may be of dense material such as concrete, two rectangular wooden support blocks 24, a triangularly shaped wooden support block 26 and two connecting rods 25 to secure the wooden support blocks to the upper block 22. The upper support block 22, which may be constructed in any number of sizes proportional to the lower block 51, is illustrated with a height of 4 ft. Weight reduction of the upper block 22, where necessary, could be attained by using reinforced prestressed concrete with an arch-like opening (not shown). Also, to assist the handling of the bilge block 10, attachment lugs (not shown) could be connected to the upper support block 22.

A pivotable lever means assembly 30 comprises two pairs of parallel levers, one pair (levers 32 and 34) on opposite sides of the truncatable bilge block (FIGS. 2 and 3), a connecting lever 36 pivotably connected between the parallel levers 32 and 34, guide plates 38, 39 and counterweights 40. The lever means assembly 30 further includes pivotable pins 41 to connect the levers 32 and 34 to the upper block assembly 20, pivotable pins 43 to connect the levers 32 and 34 to the lower block and pivotable pins 42 to connect the connecting lever 36 to the levers 32 and 34.

The power assembly 60 includes a motor 66, a hydraulic pump '64, fluid lines 62 and a power means 61. An electrical connector (not shown) provides electrical energy to the electric motor 66, the motor 66 actuates the hydraulic pump 64 which in turn delivers pressurized fluid via fluid lines 62 to the power means 61. Although the power means may be of a variety of commercially available actuators, the power means illustrated is a MacGregor Tork Pak power hinge. This power hinge is commercially available from MacGregor-Comarain, Inc. The Tork Pak power hinge includes a piston means that remains stationary, relative to its connecting axial, and a cylinder means that moves relative to the piston means by the induction of pressurized fluid within the cylinderpiston chamber. Thus, one movable cylinder is connected to an object to be moved. The other end of the power hinge is pivotably connected to the lower block 51 by the pivot pin 65 and the movable cylinder is connected to the cross bar 33 by the bolt 63 to thereby actuate the lever means assembly 30 to lower or raise the upper block assembly 20.

In operation, the wooden support blocks are secured to the upper support block 22, the upper block assembly 20 is then positioned atop the lower block assembly 50. The bilge blocks are then properly aligned within the dry dock, the upper block assemblies are lowered and the dock is flooded to permit the ship to enter the dock. After the ship has been brought into position over the keelblocks, the upper block assemblies are returned to the support position atop the lower blocks and the water is removed from the dry dock to thus place the ship on the bilge blocks and keelblocks. The procedure is reversed for undocking after the ship has come afloat.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention is specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A truncatable bilge block for dry dock blocking comprising:

a lower block assembly;

an upper block assembly positioned atop said lower block assembly when in its supporting position;

a lever assembly pivotably connecting said upper block assembly to said lower block assembly; and

a power assembly to actuate said lever assembly to raise and lower said upper block assembly.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein:

said lever assembly further includes a plurality of parallel levers on one side of the bilge block wherein each of said levers is pivotably connected to said upper block assembly and said lower block assembly.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein:

said lever assembly further includes a connecting lever pivotably connected to said parallel levers to thereby transmit the motion of one lever to the other lever; and

said power assembly further includes a power means connected to said lower block assembly and connected to said lever assembly to thereby actuate said lever assembly to raise and lower said upper block assembly.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein:-

said power means further includes a hydraulically actuated power hinge to raise and lower said upper block assembly.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein:

. said power assembly further includes a hydraulic pump means operatively connected to said power means and a motor means to actuate said hydraulic pump means.

References Cited JACOB SHAPIRO, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 61-45; 248284 

